The invention relates to a bearing segment for a sliding shoe which is supported on a bearing base so as to be tiltably and rotatably movable.
Bearing segments of this type are increasingly used for anti-friction mounting of relatively large rotating machines or machine parts, e.g., large drums of tube mills, rotary driers and similar rotating machine parts, in which the shoe of the bearing segment cooperates either directly with the peripheral outer side of the device or machine or with a ball race which may be fixed on the outer periphery of a drum.
Thus, the actual mounting can be achieved both in the radial direction and in the axial direction with the aid of the bearing segment. Particularly in the case of drums or similar large diameter machine parts which are less accurately machined it is difficult to avoid wobbling of the periphery of the drum or of the ball race mounted thereon, and therefore the anti-friction shoe of a bearing segment must be capable of following the tumbling motion in order to be able to ensure bearing support over the whole surface for the purpose of both radial and axial guiding. For this reason the anti-friction shoe of a bearing segment must be supported on the relevant bearing base so as to be tiltably and rotatably movable and generally capable of tumbling motion.
Practical experience has given rise to various constructions in which the tilting and rotating movement of the anti-friction shoe is achieved by means of a corresponding support using axial ball and socket joints, ball bearings, pressure-driven spherical pistons, or the like. If one considers first of all the purely mechanical support by ball bearings, this construction requires a ball bearing of appropriate size with corresponding recesses in the form of spherical segments. Further disadvantages of support by means of ball bearings are the unfavorable friction and the support at individual points. The other types of support referred to are even more costly in terms of expenditure and construction and are particularly disadvantageous in the case of anti-friction shoes for the purpose of axial guiding. For axial guiding purposes the shoe is generally iin sliding engagement with the sides of an annular groove cut from the peripheral outer side into the rotating machine part or with the outer sides of an attached ring or ball race.
The object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a bearing segment of the type referred to and which is distinguished over the known constructions by its structurally small, simple, and cost-saving construction.